Music Discussion #3 - The Roots

[Tom Guycott]

Nevermind the fact that they're the house band now on Jimmy Fallon's painfully unfunny show, they still do their thing.

I enjoy music, and I really don't like saying "favorite" anything too often. More of a rotating top 5. As such, I was debating on who I wanted to go with for my forray into this music forum venture. Radiohead was just done. I am an absolute mark for Jamiroquai, but I didn't want this to look like it was going to be about musicians originating from across the pond. Then, I thought, I'd turn the discussion to the Wu-Tang Clan, another group that were formative in my love of Hip-Hop and, in the genre, did something truly unique within the industry, but then that seemed a bit of a abrupt departure from "musicians".

So, best of both worlds here: you have an American BAND that consists of a frontman who is a Hip-Hop artist (and trust me if you don't know, Black Thought is an awesome wordsmith) and one of the worlds most visibly recognizalble drummers in ?uestlove and his trademark afro. Unique to the industry in the fact that they originated with minimal turntablism and overproduction and more actual instrumentation. The influence of jazz/funk in their work is apparent, their albums as a whole are masterful, and not just throwaway beats with repetitive high-hats and autotune. Songs feature other rappers as well as other musical talents. They made it possible for Jay-Z to do MTV Unplugged (for better or worse, I'm not really a fan of Hov). They put a touch on rap music that, surprisingly, hadn't been done before.

If you know about 'em, discuss. If you don't, get aquainted. I give you The Roots.






*I wish I could have found vids for these that weren't VIVO'd